January 2010
Have 3 problems with the 2003 Micra.
PS light is coming on, no power steering, all the time
NATS light is coming on, intermittant, can resolve by removing & replacing a fuse
Tailgate locks itself & won't unlock, intermittant & currently behaving itself.
Had the AA out, they ran some diagnostics on it, cleared the NATS light by removing & replacing a fuse, couldn't do anything about the PS. Said they were getting fault code U1001 out of the ECU.
Had a poke around, no sign of any obvious loose connections or chafed wires. Bit worried as another thread on this forum suggests up £600 for a new PS motor.
Also slighty odd that a car that has given trouble free reliable service for 3 yrs has now developed 3 problems since being serviced at the local main dealer 3 weeks ago. 4 if you count the wiper mechanism that broke and had to be replaced when we had the first lot of snow.
Any ideas out there anyone?
cheers,
Neil Read more
help my toyota rav4 2002 is stuck on the drive with the alarm set. The remote will not unlock it. Have tried changing the battery in the remote but still not working. I can get into the car by using the key but the allarm just keeps going off. Any ideas
Read more
Try the following, which is for a system malfunction or when adding or replacing a key.
toyotaownersclub.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=42...5
Although it's for a Corolla, I've seen the same or similar info for the Rav4 but lost the link to it. If this doesn't work, then try looking around the toyotaownersclub forum and you might find the right info.
I am going to look at an '04 BMW for sale privately circa £10k. For 30+ years I have always bought my cars privately, normally from friends/colleagues/BR etc and have never had a problem or done an Hpi check. However, I have never spent this much money without knowing the person!
I shall of course make sure that the mileage on the MOT certificates makes sense, the service history is in place, check receipts (if any) etc. Apart from spending £20 on an Hpi check, is there anything else I may have forgotten?
Many thanks Read more
I really wouldn't want to take the chance of handing over £10K on a private sale - it's too big a risk.
Private sales = <£1000 cars to me.
I agree - with the exception of older cars which may only be available by this route. Until about 1990 I used to buy privately more than from the trade, and managed to sell in the same way. But as the glut of used cars increased, so did the associated hassle, and apart from the 'older cars' mentioned, I don't do it now. The more recent problems of cloning, stolen V5s, etc, are only part of it.
hi there.....i have an mondeo 2.0 tdci 115 bhp 54 reg....
...and my problem is the turbocharger with electronic actuator....the ELECTRONIC ACTUATOR IS FAULTY!!....
....can i change just the electronic actuator on my turbo...it will work???....
....do you know where i can find an electronic actuator(black box)..???
any help welcome!!!
Thanks
Claudio Read more
Hi,
Just wanted to post my experience because the information I have read to date has helped me tremendously and avoided a £2,000 bill at the garage!
I have had rough idling issues with the car (Ford Mondeo TDCi 2.0 130 Ghia 05 plate, done about 104k miles). Garage identified injector fault. Bought used injectors from ebay, garage fitted them all in for about £400.
Second issue was car entering limp mode over 2000 revs, which could be resolved temporarily by turning engine on and off whilst doing over 50mph or so (not recommended!). Garage advised fault code P2263 which points to a duff turbo and a £2k, 3 day turnaround. However, I cleaned out the EGR valve ? no improvement. Then I removed the electronic actuator (not recommended by ford to separate actuator and turbo ? precision set up?!) and also checked that the turbo was free spinning by taking off the intake pipe. Also I presumed no variable vane turbo issues because this has a separate engine management fault code P139A a faulty turbo actuator reading code.
Just before going on holiday for a week I bidded on ebay for a no guarantee actuator but lost it, so lashed out £350 on a recon turbo/manifold and actuator. On return, 10 minutes and a swapout for the electronic actuator only and problem resolved. I did have another engine fault light on but reset the ECU by removing power for 20 minutes (took off main car battery positive lead).
I hope this helps someone in a similar situation. I will now call the recon people and see if they want their turbo and actuator back!
Hi, as the title suggests I have a MkV Golf 1.4 FSi and the exhaust system warning light is lit (not flashing). I am under the impression that this could mean a lambda probe problem, however the engine is running quite rough at idle. Could anybody shed any light onto what could potentially be wrong? Currently not driving it untill I have the time to take it to mechanics,
Thanks Read more
Hi, we are fuel injection specialist based in the North West of England called Enginostics. I have just read the problem you are having. I would recommend someone to access the trouble codes and to read live data to determine the fault. This would be the first step.
I would also look for air / vacuum leaks. ...
I got a Garmin as a Birthday present 2.5 yrs ago. Used it say 12 times - it sits in glove box to help in an emergency!
Maps out of date but upgrades were £60!! Few private users would probably pay £60 when newer models are only marginally dearer.
Latest mailing from Garmin offering lifetime upgrades for £106!!
Don't these people understand! To sell upgrades, say for 1 month, @ £10-£20 they could be overrun but punters
At £106 I will sadly decline.
Read more
Having spent 2 hours downloading updated maps for my Garmin Nuvi 1490T (and been told by the updater that the download would have maps for all of Europe) I tried to search for a postcode in Scotland. The response was 'no matches found'. The result was the same for the first 4 digits of the postcode and for 'Edinburgh'. Can anyone suggest a solution? I have emailed Garmin but no reply as yet.
Many thanks...
Hi, looking for some advice. I have a 2004 1.4TDCi that won't always start when cold or parked for a few hours. I put the key in and turn it to the first part, glow plug light is not always coming on (not sure if cold enough) but when I go to start the engine it will turn over for about two seconds and then stop turning. I can switch the ignition off and back on and then it will turn over for a couple of seconds again and still not start. I am keeping the key in the starting position all the time. Eventually after a few attempts the engine will turn over for longer and start. Once warm there are no further problems and I can stop and start it as much as I want !!
It has done 58000 miles but not sure of the history.
Any suggestions? Read more
What is the best way to test the glow plugs?
In the early stages of planning replacing the S60 with a Focus mk1.
It's a bit more complex than that. Basically, I'm doing loads of miles, SWMBO is doing hardly anything since giving up work last year. I've been using the Golf more and enjoying the 50+mpg very much, but SWMBO thinks the S60 is the spawn of the devil (too big, too cumbersome) and can't stand driving it. So, the logical step is for me to take the Golf on, to flog the Volvo, and get SWMBO another Golf-sized car. The one car we both agree on (apart from another Golf) is a Focus mk1.
We'll go petrol because the mileage won't justify diesel, but I'm not sure which engine to go for. I'm thinking the 1.8 or 2.0 because I know the old Zetec-E engine is a tank of a thing which runs forever, whereas the Sigma (1.4/1.6) can have issues as it ages. The only question is which engine to go for. There seems to be precious little in it price-wise, and the 2.0 would seem to be a closer match on power for the Golf than the 1.8, but equally the car is going to spend a lot of time on short runs (I will take it to work once a week to give it a run), so is the 2.0 significantly thirstier than the 1.8 in urban work? Is there much of a performance difference in the real world?
Looking to spend £2k ish which will be an early noughties car with 90k or so on the clock. Either a 1.8 or 2.0 Zetec 5dr hatch.
Any advice/opinions welcome.
Cheers
DP
Read more
I have a Y reg 1.8 petrol Focus. I've had it since it was 10 months old.
The most miles I can get from a full tank of fuel is 425. Although the car averages about 36 mpg. The car has travelled 143,000 miles
Hi, me and my partner are considering purchasing a 2004 Civic CDTI. It currently stands at 82,000 miles, the salesman said the cambelt is due at 90,000, however there's usually a timed interval as well as milage so does anyone know what this is?
I didn't think about it until I'd left the forecourt and realised the car is 5.5 years old (not 4.5, I'm having trouble with the mental arithmetic involving 2010) but thought it would be easy to find on Google, however it's proving to be more difficult than I thought to track down.
Thanks for any replies! Read more
Thanks WorkshopTech! I assumed that with the milage interval being higher it would be longer, but 10 years is excellent. My own VAG engine is 60k/4yrs so I was thinking 90k/6yrs for this which would mean it was very close and I'd have good grounds for a deal. I'm going to ask about it anyway (don't ask, don't get!) but just wanted to know whether it was a dealbreaker or not.
I would never skimp on a cambelt change, I had a new cambelt fail on my old Golf due to incorrect fitting which did ~£800 of damage which thankfully I didn't have to cover, so I know just how vital it is! However, 8000 miles is roughly a years motoring for my girlfriend so if I know it has plenty of life left in it time-wise then I can still consider the car even if they won't throw in a cambelt change, it looks to be in good condition and well looked after so would be a shame to walk away from it.
I have been driving a fiesta 1.6 diesel (company car) for 8 months now and although quite happy with it I am a tad annoyed by the fuel consumption. The technical spec mentions that anything up to nearly 70 to the gallone can be achieved and indeed it must have impressed someone enough to let it off with 35 quid road tax. The reality is that nothing like 70mpg is attainable or 60 or even 50. The cars computer gives an average of just 42 mpg. I thought it might be a problem with the computer itself so I filled up, noted the mileage and set off from Milton Keynes to Bristol and back and a fair bit of running round MK. Filling up again showed that I had achieved 44 mpg which I recon is pretty poor bearing in mind Fords claim. I generally keep within the speed limit, don't accelerate like a nutter and don't run around with a bag of cement in the boot so what's going wrong here?
If I had bought the car with my own money could I take it back to Ford demanding my money back because there's no way this vehicle will achieve anything like the fuel consumption they claim? Read more
Well per an article I read recently in an unremembered car magazine some of the less scrupleous manufacturers hit on the wheeze of a special engine managment unit that "recognised" the test configuration and went into a special mode ( which if I understood would have been useless in a real world situation) for the duration of the test.
Hence achieving unrealsitically low CO2/high MPG
Scheesh!
But regardless I only use the Government figures for comparison between models or makes or engines /gearboxes
Browse
.jpg)
well let me explain a little if i can, my 55 plate micra, PS light came on, and yes the main s******s wanted £2500 to do it, i got a recon motor for £500, in it went and then the nats light came on every few miles and stayed on, this is a seperate issue, maybe batteries too old in fobs , you can get the batteries but if you take too long putting them in, oops the immobiliser locks you out, back to main s******s with it,
so nats can be stopped (sometimes) by taking out the fuse in the car, or taking the battery off over night, if that does not work take keys to main dealers, and have them programmed...